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seas – like Andrei Zvyagintsev’s The Return which won the Golden Lion at Venice last autumn – where does the new breed of home-grown filmmakers come from?
Traditionally, they have emerged from VGIK, Russia’s only State Film Institute, whose students across all the film-making disciplines including management, can range in age from “17 to 85,” smiles venerable rector Alexander Novikov.
VGIK, which also attracts students from overseas, tries to keep up with all the latest technology and the “overwhelming majority” of the gradu- ates will find jobs in film, TV and the- atre. “ But,” adds Novikov, still smiling but very serious, “your wretched capi- talism has made big problems for us. In the Soviet days, there was no prob- lem with jobs. Now there’s a free mar- ket and we don’t help them find jobs. It can be hard for them.”
Some of VGIK’s eventual intake may well come from an even younger and mostly very serious-minded breed of aspiring filmmaker – aged 12-17 - who attend the Moscow International Film
School. Asked to name their favourite films they tend to recall films by Antonioni, Tarkovsky and Hitchcock rather than, say, Harry Potter or, for that matter, Don’t Even Think!
The 100 or so students – gamely utilis- ing just 12 computers - combine conven- tional education and good works, known as “social projects”, with training in vari- ous workshops spanning camera and ani- mation to direction and journalism.
Among VGIK’s more famous grad- uates are Mosfilm’s Shakhnazarov and Alexander (Russian Ark, Father & Son) Sokurov not to mention the great Nikita Mikhalkov, arguably the face of Russian cinema.
From a family steeped in Russian history and the arts, Mikhalkov has been an actor, and later director, in films from the Sixties. His directing credits include Unfinished Piece For Mechanical Piano, Oblomov, Close To Eden, Slave Of Love, the Oscar-winning Burnt By The Sun (a sequel is pending) and The Barber Of Siberia (at number 2 in the box-office chart).
When the 26th and latest Moscow International Film Festival recently
came to an end, the big, beaming Mikhalkov, as President of MIFF, was also clearly in his element as he met and greeted internation- al guests like jury chairman, Sir Alan Parker, award pre- senter Isabelle Adjani and Lifetime Achievement win-
ner, Meryl Streep.
Presiding at the closing ceremony,
he also couldn’t help purring with pleasure at the overall performance of home-grown films at this year’s edition.
Presenting director Dimitri Meskhiyev with the Golden St George for Best Film - following on its earlier awards for Best Actor and Best Director - Parker described the 1941- set drama, Us, as, “not just the best film of this festival but one of the best I’ve seen for a long time.”
Mikhalhov took up the hype. “Russian cinema,” he boomed, beam- ing at the packed audience in Moscow’s giant Pushkin cinema on a sweltering June night, “is re-born with this festival.” He may just be right. ■
“Your wretched capitalism has made big problems for us.”
Photos above l-r: Sergei Gribkov; Mosfilm Studios back-lot; DVD cover design for AntiKiller 2; Festival Jury chairman, Sir Alan Parker; School kids at the Moscow International Film School; Karen Shakhnazarov
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